Goodbye hamburger, Hello ice-cream...Day 13



ice-cream by Leanne



For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves. 

It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast."

Ephesians 2: 8-9

When my son, Jeff was about 3 years old (now 20), we were at McDonald's as a family.  Jeff had eaten most of his fries, but just a couple bites of his hamburger.  He asked me if he could get some ice-cream.  I told him that first his hamburger had to be all gone.  He stood up with his hamburger in his hand and sprinted over to the garbage can and threw his hamburger into it, as he announced, "All gone!  I need some ice-cream!"

I love the simplicity of his reasoning. 

Why do I complicate things so often?  Especially when it comes to my sin?

When I find myself up to my eyeballs in sin...the best thing I can do it drop to my knees and confess my sin to God.  But sometimes I find myself doing complicated things instead...trying to deal with the sin on my own.  Sometimes I rationalize it, or I disguise it, or try to make up for it by doing a bunch of "good things" as if I can somehow balance out sinning against a holy God by doing a few good things "for him"!

But I don't need to do any of that.  Instead, I need to "pull a Jeff".  Jesus died for my sins...PERIOD!  There is nothing we can add to what he did...nothing extra we need to do.  Jesus takes my hamburger for me...he throws it away (as far as the east is from the west)*...tells me "It's all gone! And then says, "Here's your ice-cream."

By God's loving kindness and grace; by his costly gift of allowing his only son, Jesus to die on the cross for my sins, God has lavished his mercy, grace, forgiveness, and restoration on me.  Good bye hamburger...hello ice-cream!

*As far as the east is from the west,
         So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12